Three years of experience with QuantiFERON-TB gold testing in patients with uveitis.

PURPOSE: Overview of the results of QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT) testing on uveitis patients in an interdisciplinary setting for a period of 3 years.

METHODS

Database search of all the patients tested for tuberculosis (Tb) with QFT.

RESULTS

Of 343 tested patients, overall 80 (23.3%) were positive and 253 (73.8%) negative (results were nonconclusive for 10 patients). Anatomic localization of the patients who tested positive were distributed (% of QFT(+) tests) as anterior n = 12 (15.0%), intermediate n = 22 (27.5%), posterior n = 26 (32.5%), and pan n = 18 (22.5%). In 43 QFT(+) patients we presumed a diagnosis of Tb due to additional clinical findings. Of these patients 16 were treated with full therapy following WHO recommendations.

CONCLUSIONS

QFT testing gives surprisingly high numbers of positives in uveitis patients. This is not sufficiently explained by immigrant status of the patients. The frequency of positives is substantially higher than in other cohorts. This raises important questions regarding treatment implications.